Host City, the largest and fastest growing meeting of sports, business and cultural events, will return to Glasgow on 28 and 29 November 2017.
With a highly regarded conference programme, Host City attracts hundreds of international delegates and a large and growing number of exhibitors from the world’s event hosting sector.
Host City is now firmly established as the annual one-stop shop for hosts, organisers and owners of sporting, cultural and business events.
Attendees at Host City include host destinations from all continents, major exhibitions, organising and bid committees, venues, sports federations and entertainment and cultural events.
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Host City back to Glasgow in 2017. EventScotland has a strong heritage with this conference and we are pleased to be once again supporting them to bring leading events professionals together.
“With a packed programme of cultural and sporting events already taking place in the coming years, including the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festivals in 2017, the Glasgow 2018 European Championships and the Solheim Cup in 2019, Scotland continues to demonstrate that it is truly the Perfect Stage for events. It will therefore be fitting to have many of the world’s foremost event practitioners meeting in Glasgow at Host City.”
Aileen Crawford, Head of Conventions at Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “As one of the largest gatherings of event professionals in the world, we are delighted that Host City is once again making its home in Glasgow in 2017. Business Tourism and Major Events are key to growing Glasgow and Scotland’s competitive advantage as a vibrant, world-class meetings and events destination.”
Councillor Archie Graham OBE, Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow Life, said: “Recently named as one of the top five sporting cities in the world, Glasgow really is the perfect place to host such a prestigious and world class conference as Host City.
“We’re looking forward to hosting this fantastic event for the third time, and also to welcoming the hundreds of attendees and events professionals from across the world.”
Colin Hartley, Glasgow 2018 European Championships Director said: “We are delighted that Host City is once again taking place during a golden era of sport in Glasgow. We will take the next step on that proud sporting journey in the summer of 2018 when we host the European Championships – an exciting new multi-sport event that brings together some of the continent’s leading sports.”
Ben Avison, Host City Conference Director said: “The quality and scale of Host City continues to grow in Glasgow and we look forward continuing our journey together in 2017.”
Tag: HOST CITY 2017
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Host City returns to Glasgow in 2017 for another year of growth
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Glasgow, Gothenburg, Malaysia and Skåne join International Association of Event Hosts
Destination marketing organisations from Sweden, Scotland and Malaysia have joined International Association of Event Hosts (IAEH).
Malaysia Major Events and Event in Skåne joined in the first week of January 2017, with Göteborg & Co and Glasgow Life having joined in November 2016.
The organisation now has 23 members since its formal launch in April 2016.
Malaysia Major Events was established to identify, promote, facilitate as well as support viable international events to be staged in Malaysia, the organisation is a division of Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau and it is based in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has a packed programme of sports, business and entertainment events. Events scheduled for the first three months of 2017 include the Viper Challenge Series, the Wonderful World of Disney on Ice (100 year celebration), Powerman Duathlon Asia Championships, WTA – Malaysia Open, Miri Country Music Fest and Bryan Adams Get Up Tour.
Skåne is the southernmost county in Sweden. Based in the city of Malmö, Event in Skåne works to make Skåne a leading venue for top Swedish and international events.
The New York Times ranked Skåne as one of the top ten places in the world to visit in 2016. The region regularly hosts world and European championships and several other major events.
Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city, with 540,000 inhabitants, located on the west coast. Despite its small size, it hosts an impressive list of international events, a success it puts down to close collaboration within the city’s event industry, infrastructure for hosting events and bold, creative and professional organisers.
Glasgow Life, represented by Ian Hooper, joined the Association during Host City 2016 in November. Glasgow Life’s vision is to inspire citizens and visitors to lead richer and more active lives through culture, sport and learning.
Glasgow’s track record in staging major events is enviable, from multi-sports events like the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2018 European Championships and individual sports events like such as 2015 World Gymnastics, to important major conferences such as Host City.
The IAEH is a worldwide organisation for representatives of international destinations to collaborate together to generate the best possible value from hosting major sporting and cultural events, and provide a voice for ‘not for profit’ hosts of events.
IAEH provides a platform for members to learn from the successes and challenges of major events, share knowledge and generate greater long term social and economic benefits from hosting events.
IAEH meets at the most important meetings of the major events sector including Host City and SportAccord Global Convention.
Host City, the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events, will take place again in Glasgow in November 2017. -
Partners and sponsors are signing up for Host City 2017
The global conference and exhibition of cities and sports, business and cultural events is off to a flying start with 19 partners and sponsors already on board this year.
Launched in 2014, the annual Host City conference and exhibition is the first and largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events
EventScotland is Supporting Organiser for the 2017 event that is taking place in Glasgow on 28-29 November.
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, said: “EventScotland has a strong heritage with the Host City conference and exhibition and we are delighted to be supporting them to bring leading events professionals together for what promises to be an insightful and informative two days.
“Scotland is the perfect stage for events and Host City 2017 will really set the tone ahead of some amazing world-class events including the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, the 2019 European Athletics indoor Championships and the 2019 Solheim Cup.”
Host City is a unique event combining high-level panel discussions featuring renowned industry figures with an effective marketplace where cities of all sizes can meet with rights holders, event suppliers, event organisers and their procurement officials.
Host City 2017 is backed by
Supporting Organiser: EventScotland
Supporting Partners: Glasgow Convention Bureau and Glasgow 2018
Silver Sponsors: Aggreko, FarrPoint, Marsh and Red Bull Air Race
Branding Sponsors: Arena Group and De Boer
Host City 2017 also enjoys the support of Media Partners signed up so far, including: Exhibition World; fcbusiness; isportconnect; Major Events International; Orange Sports Forum; Sportcal; SportBusiness; World Academy of Sport; Yutang Sports.
“We are immensely grateful for the support of all the fantastic organisations that make Host City the great event it is today,” said Host City’s Editorial and Conference Director Ben Avison. “In particular we are delighted with the renewed support from Event Scotland as Supporting Organiser and Glasgow Convention Bureau and Glasgow 2018 as Supporting Partners.”
Many more sponsors and partners are set to join in the coming months.
To find out more about the opportunities visit www.hostcity.com or contact Adam Soroka on adam.soroka@cavendishgroup.co.uk or +44(0) 203 675 9531.
For information on the conference agenda or speaking opportunities contact ben.avison@hostcity.com -
Host City brings cities and events closer – Sir Craig Reedie
The owners, organisers and hosts of major events need to keep talking and Host City conferences are playing a crucial role in this process, according to Sir Craig Reedie CBE, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.
The fourth Host City conference and exhibition – Host City 2017 – takes place in Glasgow on 28 and 29 November. The first Host City Asia conference takes place in Beijing on 18 October.
Sir Craig Reedie said: “Host City is a really good conference involving cities that want to host events. Anything that can be done to put sport and cities together at an early stage is a good idea and I look forward to this happening in Glasgow and Beijing.
“The Glasgow event is getting bigger and bigger each year – that shows that there is a need for it.
“I expect Host City Asia in Beijing will show what a different market is like. China is full of large cities and there are lots of options within the country. For sports that are big in China – badminton for example – there is always a bidder for a major event.
“So, it will be interesting to see what lessons are learned from the Host City event in Beijing; because in the rest of the world it’s a question of encouraging cities to bid.
“Communication is vital in both the bidding phases and the delivery phase. The IOC appear to be looking at changing the Winter Games bidding process going forward, to make that process more comprehensive and start even earlier.
“On occasions costs ended up to be too high and that was the really limiting factor in terms of new bids. The IOC has to understand this and do something about it, to sit down with the cities who are interested well in advance and find out if we can work together.”
Event rights holders including international federations, national Olympic committees, bidding and organising committees comprise a substantial and growing part of the Host City audience.
Sir Craig Reedie has immense experience leading all these types of organisations, from bringing badminton into the Olympic Programme and presiding over the sport’s international federation to chairing the British Olympic Association and the London 2012 bidding and organising committees. Until 2016 he was Vice President of the International Olympic Committee and is currently President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
A full transcript of the interview with Sir Craig Reedie will be published in the Autumn issue of Host City magazine.
For more information about Host City visit www.hostcity.com -
Host City 2017 brings High Impact Events to Scotland
Host City, the world leading event hosting conference, returns to Glasgow for a third consecutive year on 28 to 29 November 2017.
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at EventScotland and Chairman of Host City 2017, said: “I’m delighted Host City is returning to Glasgow for the third year running.
“I’ve always enjoyed attending the conference and exhibition and not just because they keep choosing to come to one of Scotland’s great cities.
“I’m always impressed with the high-quality delegates and excellent speakers that attend Host City. The combination of exciting and relevant content means you can really delve into the issues facing the sector, while also creating more meaningful debate. It also allows for greater opportunities to network and make those all-important industry contacts.
“My expectations for this year is an exciting programme of interesting panel discussions, keynote speeches and networking opportunities with high quality delegates from the sporting, cultural and business events sector.”
The conference theme this year is High Impact Events in the Current Climate.
Paul Bush OBE said: “It is an exciting but also a challenging time for hosts of High Impact Events. The recent events in London, Manchester and the rest of the world have again brought security to the fore.
“The current security climate and the rising costs this brings is a major issue for events for all sizes, especially ones of High Impact that attract wide-spread attention and large crowds, so the session on ‘Strategies for hosting safe and accessible events’ is especially pertinent.
“Alongside the challenges there are also great opportunities. The rise in technology means that audiences engage with an event in a whole new and exciting way. The session on ‘How technology can enhance the live experience’ will be particularly apt for events adjusting to this new way of engagement and delivery.
“For High Impact Events in the current climate, dealing with these challenges while harnessing these new opportunities is vital and it’s great to see the conference programme reflecting these current issues.”
There are many benefits to staging Host City conference and exhibition, the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events.
Paul Bush said: “The economic impact of any event like this is significant. It is also a fantastic opportunity to showcase Scotland as the perfect stage for events, and for delegates to see first-hand what Glasgow has to offer.
“For us at EventScotland it is also a wonderful opportunity to welcome the international family of the events industry. We have a packed programme of major events taking place in the coming years, including the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and The 2019 Solheim Cup so it will be great to have some of the world’s foremost event practitioners coming to Glasgow for Host City where we’ll be able to swap ideas and discuss how we manage some of the current challenges whilst making the most of the upcoming opportunities together.
“My other expectation for this year is for a greater opportunity for delegate cross-over between Host City and our own National Events Conference, which takes place the day before Host City.”
The full transcript of a wide-ranging interview with Paul Bush will be published in the Autumn issue of Host City magazine. -
Inside UEFA’s own international organising committee
Host City: Events involving multiple host cities are usually delivered by a local organising committee (LOC) in the host nation. What prompted UEFA to bring the organisation of its events in-house instead?
Christian Hirschmueller: UEFA’s approach is built on the understanding that knowledge and experience are critical success factors to deliver UEFA’s events on a very high service level in the most effective and most efficient ways.
Historically, UEFA started to be directly involved in event operations in 2002 for the UEFA EURO 2004 in Portugal. For UEFA EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, the geographical proximity of the hosts still allowed to have a LOC model, with many synergies created between the LOC and UEFA Events SA. It was thus a kind of intermediary step on the process to fully bring operations in-house.
By founding UEFA Events SA – a 100%-owned subsidiary of UEFA – after a very successful UEFA EURO 2008, UEFA was able to keep in-house the knowledge and experience obtained during its two previous major sport events. Furthermore, this knowledge was structured in so-called ‘Competence Centres’, such as Technical Services & Overlay (TECH). With the in-house organisation of the annual UEFA Club Competition Finals as from 2013 onwards, UEFA Events SA has been able to use the knowledge and experience of the Competence Centres across all UEFA competitions and maximise the output in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.
This process which lasted over several years, from the first operational steps in Portugal to the current performance of UEFA Events SA, was initiated, led and implemented by the CEO of UEFA Events SA Martin Kallen.
Host City: Which aspects of event delivery does UEFA outsource most – from operational management and expertise, down to products and services?
Christian Hirschmueller: The daily business in the operational part of UEFA Events SA is to plan and produce UEFA’s events. This means to appoint and contract suppliers, organise the works and coordinate the several activities with all relevant stakeholders. These typically are tasks of companies offering main contractor services which we operate by ourselves.
Regarding operation, this seems one of the main differences between UEFA and other organisers of major sport events: While for other major sports events it might be key to involve a main contractor in order to deliver the event including all the above tasks, UEFA Events SA is covering this part itself and looks for specialised suppliers delivering the services directly.
This leads to a more direct interaction between internal stakeholders and suppliers and contractual relations are thus getting more transparent. Our experience shows that it saves financial resources, time for complex overhead management and reduces miscommunication between all parties due to less interfaces.
Host City: Can you give us an idea of the scale and scope of technical services and overlay required for an event like the European Football Championship?
Christian Hirschmueller: Generally speaking, TECH is responsible to provide and operate technical infrastructure at the stadiums for UEFA’s major sport events as e.g. UEFA EURO, UEFA Champions League Final or UEFA Europa League Final according to all stakeholders needs and agreed service levels.
On the one hand this includes the existing technical infrastructure, such as stadium and grid power systems, the proper functioning of the pitch floodlighting or the operation of sound systems, giant screens and stadium TV system.
On the other hand, this also includes the provision of temporary infrastructure inside and outside the stadium, as the technical and infrastructural needs for such major sports events are higher than existing systems are usually able to cover.
The list of figures and deliverables is long: for UEFA EURO 2016, TECH delivered 24 MW of temporary power systems for TV broadcasting and additional outside facilities with approx. 1,000 km of cables, 17,700 m2 of tent structures with water und air-condition installation, cleaning services for 500,000 m2 and removed 600 tonnes of waste, installed 1,700 TV commentary desks in 10 different venues, provided a total of 800m cable bridges, installed approx. 25,000 cable hooks, 100 camera platforms, 39 TV pitch view studios, implemented the sound system upgrade of 10 stadiums with 1,100 speakers and around 200 individual infrastructural changes in these 10 stadiums.
In addition, TECH was responsible for the health and safety procedures during the set-up and dismantling period with a 4,000-page documentation and 200 on-site briefings, the permission process for technical installations with approx. 15,000-page documentation as well as for the frequency management process with 5,000 frequency applications over all matches.
The TECH planning team was made up of seven people: three in Switzerland and four colleagues in Paris. The overall budget of TECH for UEFA EURO 2016 was EUR 26m.
Host City: For most mega events, the host nation benefits from the opportunity to engage with local suppliers and sponsors to deliver the event. How can hosts of UEFA events benefit if all the procurement and marketing is handled centrally?
Christian Hirschmueller: Let me give you the example of UEFA Technical Services & Overlay (TECH) for UEFA EURO 2016 in France.
All suppliers were chosen in an open and public tender process. Key factors for choosing suppliers are quality of equipment, availability of resources as well as experience for these very specialised fields in major sport event. Once this is given, local/national suppliers are very attractive for us as they have often the advantage of low logistics and accommodation costs. With these parameters, in total more than two thirds of TECH’s budget remained in the host country.
Beside the planning team mentioned above, the 10 TECH venue managers and the 10 TECH venue coordinators were all locals – half of them never participated in major events before, let alone in major sport events. This means that instead of hiring international crews, we developed a training programme and achieved a very successful knowledge transfer. This was mainly possible due to the model of UEFA Events SA and the core team in Nyon relying on the operational experience of several successfully delivered UEFA EURO tournaments.
Host City: In another innovation, UEFA is staging the 2020 European Football Championships in 13 host venues, all in different nations. It must be incredibly complex working in 13 different countries to deliver the event – how is this being managed?
Christian Hirschmueller: It is a project management challenge to organise a consistent UEFA EURO 2020 tournament under consideration of the new format with its multi-country aspect and cultural diversity. The main task is to prepare the stadiums – which are coming from different operational and infrastructural levels – for a EURO tournament operation.
At the beginning, the goal was to create a model that was as simple as possible, manageable, transparent and easy to understand for all stakeholders independent of their individual background.
For this purpose, UEFA Event SA has developed a process that regulates the activities of stakeholders to achieve agreed results together at certain stages, the so called ‘gates’. This process leads to the ‘UEFA Venue Operations Gate-Model’ summarising the process on one A4 page to support a common understanding in order to be ready for the next step in the planning phase.
Host City: What are you most looking forward to about UEFA Euro 2020?
Christian Hirschmueller: The UEFA EURO 2020 will take place from Bilbao to Baku and from Glasgow to Rome. It is a fantastic professional and personal enrichment to meet and cooperate with this large variety of characters and cultures and their different ways of living, during one event.
Host City: Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing you speak at Host City 2017! What are your expectations of this important meeting of cities and events?
Christian Hirschmueller: The Host City 2017 summit is an ideal place to meet and exchange with inspiring people of different branches. I look forward to gathering new aspects and impulses for the work of UEFA Events SA. -
The special DNA of High Impact Events
I’d like to welcome you all to Glasgow and Scotland for Host City 2017.
This is the third consecutive year that Host City has been held in Glasgow and I am delighted to see how it has grown.
EventScotland has a strong heritage with this conference and, with so much happening in Scotland over the coming years; it is fitting to have so many of the world’s foremost event practitioners meeting in this great city ready to discuss high-impact events
International context
Having spent the last few weeks at home recovering from a new hip I have had lots of time to think, reflect and cogitate about the world sporting events landscape.
Unfortunately, several key words and phrases have stood out on more than one occasion:Governance – lack of leadership
Transparency
Athlete welfare
The lack of desire to move with the times
Doping
Corruption
Geo political instability
A fragile world economy
Terrorism
Global warming
Brexit
Lack of bids for Olympics
Bidding confusion over Rugby World Cup 2023to name but a few.
I find all of this very sad and, whilst it may well be a reflection of where we are, the lack of positive dialogue in terms of what high impact events can achieve is woeful.
Challenges
Whilst we have many challenges I genuinely believe that we need to celebrate success much more and ensure that we articulate and communicate to the public, politicians, media and more importantly athletes and fans how important this sector is for the world’s economy.
Take this city, Glasgow. On the back of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Hydro entertainment venue is ranked second or third in the world and the local vicinity is a contemporary and vibrant place to work, live and play, supporting 2,500 new jobs with some of the finest restaurants and cafes in Scotland.
I hope that the next two days gives us all the opportunity to both share our wisdom, and also reinvigorate and celebrate all that is great about our global events industry – one that, if we are not careful, is in my view at risk.
We need to articulate the special DNA of High Impact Events:Create moments no one can ever take away
Inspires others to achieve, perform and learn
Create impact across global governments that no other sector can, from a 360-degree perspective such as sport, creativity, health, education, economy, tourism, young people, etc.
And more importantly than ever contributes to the wellbeing of the community, the city, the country and our global wellbeing; and last but not least, makes people smile and have fun!!
Thank you for coming to Scotland and enjoy the conference. I am delighted to announce that we are working with Host City to further grow the event in Glasgow and Scotland next year and see this city as future the home of a world class conference for global event cities and events.
Thank you and enjoy the two days.
Paul Bush OBE is VisitScotland’s Director of Events, leading the EventScotland Team, Business Events and Industry Development. EventScotland takes a strategic lead in the Scottish events industry and is responsible for working with partners to attract, bid for and secure major sporting, cultural and business events.
Over the past decade this has brought some of the world’s biggest event properties to the country, including The Ryder Cup and Commonwealth Games in 2014, World Gymnastics Championships 2015, World Orienteering Championships 2015 the MTV Music Awards on two occasions and future events such as European Championships 2018, Solheim Cup 2019 and Euro 2020 Football.
Having been on the Commonwealth Games Scotland Board for four years as an independent non-executive Director, he was appointed Chairman in May 2015.
Paul was Chef De Mission for The 2006 Scottish Commonwealth Games team of 245 athletes and officials who secured a total of 29 medals. He was awarded an OBE in the 2007 Queen’s New Year Honours List for Services to Commonwealth Sport.
Paul Bush OBE is Chairman of Host City 2017, the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events, which took place in Glasgow on 27-28 November. -
Conference audience learn how ‘experiential obsessed generation’ are the future for Scotland’s events industry
Hosted by sports broadcaster, Eilidh Barbour, and held at Glasgow’s Technology & Innovation Centre, 42 expert speakers and a capacity audience gathered for the flagship industry conference to share best practice and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Scotland’s events industry.
David Coletto from Abacus Data delivered a timely and thought provoking keynote speech, providing invaluable insight on understanding the future of events through the eyes of a millennial during his presentation ‘Disruption and Generational Change’; part of the opening plenary session, ‘The Changing Audience for Events’.
He gave the 300 strong audience three things to take away from his talk when thinking about millennials around events. Firstly they are a ‘do’ generation not a ‘have’ generation. They prefer experiences over owning goods. Secondly, it’s all about the experience. Millennials want a quality experience that is authentic, natural and value for money. And lastly, they want to be told a story but they want it to be authentic.
He said: “This generation is a product of their environment and they have been shaped with entirely new skill sets, opinions and values. The more you learn about millennials the more you can comprehend and appreciate the significance of the economic, political and social change happening around us.
“The needs of the millennial generation compared to those of previous generations are so different. We are often described as the experiential obsessed generation and it is this generational change that is disrupting so many markets, including the events and festivals sector. With millennials currently representing a quarter of the population in countries across the world, whether it be Scotland, the UK, American or Canada, it is a key market that represents great opportunity for the industry, so understanding the change and harnessing it to your advantage is vital if you want to succeed in attracting and retaining a millennial audience for your event.
“From my perspective, there’s never been a better time to be in the events and festivals business.”
The day’s 11 break-out sessions also provided further opportunities for the industry to delve into the latest trends and issues facing the sector, with EventImpacts, the National Culture Strategy Consultation, Event Tech, Social Media as well as Security, Stewarding and Policing among the popular topics delegates engaged in.
Following the break-out sessions, the delegates came together for the closing plenary session ‘‘Scotland’s Assets & The Perfect Stage’, with five of the industry’s leading professionals discussing the assets that are the cornerstone of the country’s event strategy – our people, our cultural identify and heritage, our natural environment, our built facilities, and our signature events – and providing their perspective on the opportunities and challenges of continuing to deliver a strong portfolio of events that maximise these key assets to ensure sustainable impact and international profile for Scotland.
Building on the success of the previous conference in 2015, the 2017 event provided the industry with a forum to learn, share knowledge and network, allowing event practitioners to remain up-to-date and ensuring Scotland maintains its reputation as a world-leader in event development and delivery.
Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “The National Events Conference has been a great opportunity for our industry to come together and review the progress we’ve made so far with our national events strategy, Scotland the Perfect Stage, as well as discuss the challenges and opportunities we’re currently facing. The level of debate and discussion that has taken place throughout the day has been truly outstanding.
“As an industry we are doing some amazing work, with a great portfolio of annual events as well as continually attracting some of the biggest events in the world from the Commonwealth Games, The Ryder Cup to the MTV Music Awards. Our work is the envy of many, however, as an industry we need to be better at articulating more clearly the wider benefits of events, especially as we face the challenges ahead.”
Immediately following the National Events Conference has been another leading events conference, Host City 2017, the world’s largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. Also taking place at Glasgow’s Technology & Innovation Centre from 28 to 29 November, attendees included 30 event owners and 20 organising committees as well as 200 delegates.
Using his opening remarks as co-chair of the conference, Paul, further addressed the challenges facing the events and festivals industry but this time on a global scale.
He said: “While it is an exciting time for the industry with all the technological advancements and the rise in social media allowing events and audiences to be more engaged, it is also a very challenging time. The current security climate, the transparency and governance around the bid process, as well doping and corruption in sport, are adversely affecting the confidence the public has in bidding for and delivering of major events. As a global industry we must be willing to tackle it head on if we are to maintain public support for major events around the world.
“This was an area of great debate by the Scottish events industry at the National Events Conference and one I’m sure will be continued by delegates over the two days at Host City 2017.” -
“Best attended yet” Host City 2017 looks ahead to major exhibition in 2018
Host City, the world’s largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events, took another major step forward this week, recording its greatest participation yet and with the announcement that the event will be returning to Glasgow in 2018 with a greatly increased exhibition.
More cities, event owners and organisers than ever joined the fourth Host City conference and exhibition in Glasgow to hear VIP speakers from international sports federations, cultural events, large scale congresses and mega event organising committees speak on the theme of “High Impact Events in the Current Climate”.
Attendees included more than 50 city representatives, 30 event owners, 20 organising committees, 15 media and two hundred delegates.
Around the two-day conference, Host City’s sponsors presented the event’s biggest exhibition yet, with a 500 square metre exhibition area filled with 10 large stands from organising committees, sports federations, architects and suppliers.
Host City 2017 was opened by the event’s Chairmen, Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland and Sir Craig Reedie CBE, IOC Member and President of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Paul Bush OBE said: “It is great to see so many city representatives, event owners, organising committees and events practitioners in Glasgow for this fantastic conference. While it is an exciting time for the industry with all the technological advancements and the rise in social media allowing events and audiences to be more engaged, it is also a very challenging time. The current security climate, the transparency and governance around the bid process, as well doping and corruption in sport, are all adversely affecting the confidence the public has in bidding for and delivering of major events. This year’s Host City programme has provided the ideal opportunity to tackle these challenges head on and ensure we maintain public support for high impact events around the world.
“That said, I’m delighted Host City will be returning to Glasgow in 2018 and shows the continued positive impact hosting high impact events can have when you have a strong legacy plan in place to build on the success. The return of Host City for a fourth consecutive year is a real endorsement and clearly shows the legacy that’s been built from hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the work Glasgow has done to re-positioned itself as an events and tourism city.”
Sir Craig Reedie said: “Host City 2017’s debate on High Impact Events, with panels and discussions on practically every aspect – the size of the city, safety, technology, entertainment and others – is interesting in the extreme.
“When Host City comes back to Glasgow in 2018 we can expect even more interest and attendance than this year, which is this best attended yet.”
Participants in Host City 2017 included: Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director, International Olympic Committee; Patrick Baumann, President, General Association of International Sports Federations; Sarah Lewis, Secretary General, Association of International Olympic Winter Federations; David Grevemberg CBE, Chief Executive, Commonwealth Games Federation; Hiromi Kawamura, Public Relations Secretary, Tokyo 2020; Jooho Kim, Executive Vice President of Games Planning and Operations, PyeongChang 2018; Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Deputy Mayor of Budapest and senior figures from non-sports events including Cirque du Soleil and World Expos.
Conference Director Ben Avison said “We are delighted to be returning next November to Glasgow and Scotland, where Host City has developed so rapidly over the last three years. With the incredibly high standard of participation this year, we look forward to a great flourishing of the exhibition space in 2018 around this peerless, world class conference of cities and cross-sector events.”
For further information on the panel sessions and other world class speakers for Host City 2017, please visit: www.hostcity.com -
“We should speak out more about the benefits of hosting the Games”
I have the pleasure of welcoming you all to my host city for the third time – and seeing how this event has developed and grown over the years.
The overall theme for this year is “High impact events in the current climate” and there are a number of very qualified people to speak about this today and tomorrow – not least my colleagues from the International Olympic Committee in the first two panels.
The recent change by the IOC to award two summer Olympic Games at the same time to Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 certainly covers the phrase “High Impact Events” – and you will hear from two absolute experts in that decision – Patrick Baumann who chaired the IOC Evaluation Commission and Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director. You will also hear from David Grevemberg, who ran the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
I used to know what I thought was a lot about the IOC bidding process, having served on three Evaluation and two Coordination Commissions – and then bidding twice with Manchester and once with London as we tried to convince the IOC of the joys of our case – and thankfully, one of these efforts worked.
I have been increasingly concerned that the IOC bidding process seems to be directed at how the process can be made shorter, cheaper and more accommodating. Perhaps we should also be prepared to speak out rather more about the huge benefits of hosting the Games that can be delivered by a well organised combination of political, organisational and sporting skills.
I am not going to repeat the huge benefits from London 2012 – and echoed in many ways by the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – where the development of village, infrastructure and sports facilities provide legacy benefits for generations to come. But I was hugely encouraged by a recent report from the Mayor of London in October to the effect that East London – the home of the 2012 Games – is the fastest growing part of London as the “Olympic effect” continues to attract jobs and investment. This report reveals that an extra 110,000 jobs have been created in East London since the Games, more than three times the number forecast in 2012. This boom is expected to continue with an additional 125,000 jobs across the six Olympic Boroughs by 2030.
This can only be described as high impact and I can only hope that any city or National Olympic Committee thinking of entering the Olympic Bidding race might well look at the London experience, as well as making full use of the revised IOC candidature process to fit the Games into their own long-term planning. Glasgow also has a terrific record of bidding for and organising individual World and European Championships – perhaps most recently World Badminton and World Gymnastics, the best presentation of indoor sport I have ever seen.
You will all have the opportunity to study the context of this debate over the next day and a half with panels and discussions on practically every aspect – the size of the city, safety, technology, entertainment and many others. It should be interesting in the extreme and I am sure that Glasgow will be listening and paying full attention. And Glasgow should, because Host City is set to come back to Glasgow in 2018 – and expect even more interest and attendance than this year which is the best attended yet.
Welcome back and enjoy.
This article is edited from Sir Craig Reedie OBE’s opening address to Host City 2017 in Glasgow on 28th November 2017